SEC halts trading of crypto-asset hoarding company 'QMMM Holdings' shares…"Allegations of illegal stock price manipulation"

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has temporarily suspended trading in shares of crypto-asset hoarding company QMMM Holdings (QMMM Holdings). Trading is suspended until October 13 (local time).

According to Cointelegraph on the 29th (local time), the SEC said, "It was confirmed that unidentified individuals encouraged investors to buy for the purpose of artificially inflating the price and trading volume of QMMM stock," and "QMMM trading is temporarily suspended due to potential stock price manipulation."

Since announcing plans on September 9 to purchase Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL), QMMM's stock price surged more than 1730% in a month. The stock started at about $6.50 and at one point jumped to $207, and on the 27th, just before the trading halt, it closed at $119.40. The company said it recently invested $100 million to acquire crypto-assets and build its own analytics platform.

Carl Capolingua, senior editor at Market Index, said, "The SEC's trading suspension is a very rare action and, if connected to company management, could lead to serious penalties such as fines or prison sentences." He added, "QMMM's crypto-asset strategy attracted investor interest, but the SEC's concern is whether there was illegal stock price manipulation. It is not an issue with the hoarding strategy itself."

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, more than 200 companies have announced plans to buy and hold crypto-assets, expanding the trend of crypto-asset hoarding. However, some experts warn that there is a risk of widespread collapse if the value of held assets exceeds company value.